My issues with slice of life anime

If you’ve been around my blog long enough, you would notice that I don’t talk about slice of life anime a lot or barely at all. If you haven’t, you are about to learn something more about me. I am not the largest fan of slice of life anime. It’s in the same sort of place that romance anime used to be. That doesn’t’ mean that I don’t try watching anime in this certain genre, but it takes something special for me to stick around. This doesn’t require a lot, just something to make it stand out. This isn’t always effective though, but it needs to be so much more than cute girls doing cute things with some exceptions. Unless there is a change in circumstances, it’s not my kind of thing at this moment.

The main reason why I never sought out slice of life and romance anime until recently is because those two concepts felt like only a singular slices of a completed anime series. I’m going to use the original Gundam series as an example for this. The original Gundam series is a war drama centered around giant robots fighting each other, but it also has elements of slice of life and romance in it. While the main protagonist went through his own romantic issues in the show, there is also the romance of Captain Bright and Mirai Yashima. It was unrequited for a while, but it started to heat up when Mirai’s former fiancé showed up. As for slice of life elements, episodes centered around life around the ship. We get to know these characters through how they interact with each other. At that moment, I didn’t think either of those were for me. Now I am actively seeking out romance anime with no issues, but still have some hang ups with slice of life series.

My issue with slice of life series is that I have to feel like it is going somewhere. Azumanga Daioh is a slice of life kind of series with good comedy, but it also has some forward momentum because three years of high school pass in twenty-four episodes. At the end of this series, the girls graduate. How many series do that? There is also Shirobako and Sakura Quest. Both of these series center around a group of cute girls that are not in high school working in the anime industry and trying to save a small farm town respectively. While there are moments when the main set of characters just sit down and talk to each other, but there is still a driving force that makes these characters work together to solve problems. Both of these series are great in that sort of way.

At this moment, I think Flying Witch is my perfect slice of life series. The series barely has a driving force, but the world and the interactions between the characters was so interesting to me. The main character is a witch and seeing her learn the mundane and her showing her relatives magic stuff was always interesting to me. Also, the mystical elements like a giant turtle in the sky that was like Laputa or the Veil of Night enjoying a meal at a magical café was so great. I wish this show had a second season, because I would watch it in a heartbeat. I also doubt a slice of life series would appear like this again, but I will try to look for one.

As for my cute girls doing cute things show, it’s Sound! Euphonium. The only reason why it ever caught my attention was because it was band themed. I have been a band geek my entire life (still am), so this series automatically appealed to me. I realize that there a lot of moe elements and the show focused on these cute girls in short skirts with heavily implied yuri and had maybe three male characters with names, but it still got all of the band drama and band life elements right. Also, the instruments. They were so gorgeously animated and the songs were so cool. If I wasn’t a band geek, this show would never have appealed to me in the slightest. Kyoani is not astudio I usually watch series from because of shows like this. I know there is an audience for them because they wouldn’t be made otherwise, but they aren’t for me.

Finally, I get to why I wrote this piece in the first place. Maid Dragon. I honestly don’t get what people see in this show. Yes, there is dragon stuff sometimes, but there is also maid stuff. I don’t know about you guys, but maid outfits in anime don’t do anything for me. I know that they are going for a small dragon family thing in this series, but I just can’t find myself caring about it. The small dragon that everybody seems to love for one reason or another bores me. Why? Because her only personality traits is cute and sh is a mary sue. Her voice is monotone all the time and suddenly she is good at everything human world for one reason or another. I also don’t believe what Tohru said about Kanna playing pranks which caused her to get kicked out, because her personality has not shown that she is capable of it. The comedy is also a little off for me. There are things like this show getting popular that remind me that slice of life anime is not for me all the time. (I know I’m going to get hate for this paragraph, but whatever).

Slice of life anime is not always for me and that is okay. Everybody has their own type of series they like to watch and, with very few exceptions, isn’t mine. I have always been into series that have some good world building, politics, action, and some romance. The romance genre has recently been thrown into this list of series I look out for, but I still wait to see who is behind the slice of life show that I will watch or wait to see how other people react to a series before I decide to jump on board. After reading this, if you know some series that I should check out, let me know. I am always interested in checking out series that anyone recommends.

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2 thoughts on “My issues with slice of life anime”

Nice post! Its always important to note that peoples opinions are there own, i really like that you make it obvious that this is your own opinion and that shouldnt subtract anything from people that DO enjoy slice of life anime.
I wrote a review on Maid Dragon and i personally enjoyed the show, but im not blind to its many flaws. especially in the ending and the overall character development.
I also love that you mentioned Azumanga Daioh! Not many people remember or even know what that show is, its great to see it pop up again 😀